Gadget Recycling

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Category: Smartwatches

Last week when Samsung launched its two new phones, the Galaxy S6 Edge + and Galaxy Note 5, it also got the tech world excited by showing a short teaser video of its eagerly anticipated new smartwatch, the Samsung Gear S2.

To build even more hype for the new smartwatch ahead of its official launch in early September, the company has just released the teaser on You Tube for the whole world to get excited about the device that’s set to rival the Apple Watch.

With its stylish design, round face and apparently smaller size, the Samsung Gear S2 looks nothing like its bulky predecessor, the Samsung Gear S, and is arguably even better looking than the Apple Watch.

While we’ll have to wait until September for the full specs, the video does hint at some of its functions including heart rate sensor, sport tracking, stopwatch, weather and time zone apps.

The video confirms that the Gear S2 will be announced on September 3 at the IFA in Berlin, and we’ll certainly be tuning in then to find out more.

What are your first impressions of the Samsung Gear S2? Do you think it’ll be a match for the Apple Watch.

Unsurprisingly it ain’t going to be cheap, with prices starting at £299 for the entry level Apple Watch Sport model, and ranging up to a whopping £13,500 for the top of the range Apple Watch Edition version.

This massive variation in price has no bearing on the specs of the smartwatch, but rather the materials that it’s made from. The cheapest model, the Apple Watch Sport has an aluminium casing, while the regular Apple Watch is stainless steel and Apple Watch Edition 18 carat gold.

With 38 different models, Apple claims “there’s an Apple Watch for everyone”, assuming, of course that everyone has at least £300 to shell out on a device to complement their already heftily priced iPhone 5 or 6. However, those with plenty of disposable income will be able to choose between two different sizes (38mm and 42mm), the three different casings, and a range of different straps and watch faces, to suit their individual style and budget.

The Apple Watch will go on sale on 24 April, with pre-orders opening on 10 April.

Will the Apple Watch finally kickstart interest in smartwatches and bring them into common usage? If anyone can do it, it’ll probably be Apple.

Three years after Pebble launched its, and one of the first, smartwatches on Kickstarter, the company has announced that it will be using the crowdfunding platform to release its next generation smartwatch, the Pebble Time.

The original Pebble smartwatch was a great product at the time and forged the way for much larger companies such as Samsung, Google and Apple, but as these companies have started to develop much more sophisticated wearables, the Pebble smartwatch was starting to look pretty dated.

However, the new Pebble Time looks every bit as good as its competitors, if not better. The previously bulky device has been scaled down and is now 20% slimmer than its predecessor. The housing now also has a slight curve in order to fit better around the wrist.

The new Pebble now also has a colour e-paper display, which can be left on continually and still have 7 hours battery life. It also has a microphone, which can be used to send short voice replies to messages and notifications. Like the original, it is water resistant, and now also comes with a scratch resistant Gorilla Glass screen.

One of the biggest changes to the new Pebble is its new operating system, which is based around time (hence the name) and arranges alerts on a chronological

After the original Pebble raised over $10 million (£6.4 million) on Kickstarter, establishing itself as a contender in the burgeoning smartwatch market, you could question why they have gone back to Kickstarter to fund their latest venture. Eric Migicovsky, Founder and CEO of the company has responded to that by saying :

“The reason why we’re going back to Kickstarter is because we’re still a small company. We’re battling the largest company in the world. And we want to speak directly to our community. We want to bring it directly to the people who matter”.

The community is obviously listening as this time round the campaign raised almost $10 million in 24 hours, with 43,000 backers choosing to put a down payment of $179 (£115) on the new Pebble (it will be $200 when it goes on general sale) and wait for it to be shipped in May, even with the eagerly awaited Apple Watch scheduled for release in April.